Fall in Love with the Problem
Start every venture with a validated problem, not a solution, so the problem becomes your North Star.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 95%
Levine's core operating philosophy: value is created by solving problems, so a startup should begin with a big, real problem and validate it with strangers before building anything. The problem becomes the North Star that keeps the journey on course and makes the story compelling enough that customers want you to win.
Origin
Uri Levine's signature framework, developed across 10 companies and two unicorns (Waze, Moovit) and named in his book 'Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution.' He notes the t-shirt predates the book by a decade.
Core principles
- 01Value creation is the point of entrepreneurship; solving a real problem is the simplest way to create value.
- 02A problem you're passionate about supplies the internal drive to survive a long, hard journey.
- 03When customers care about the problem, they want you to succeed and will help you succeed.
- 04Validation comes from strangers correcting your problem statement, not friends agreeing with it.
How to run it
- 1
Name a big problem worth solving
Identify a problem — usually from personal frustration — big enough that the world becomes a better place if solved.
Pro tip Levine's own ideas come from personal frustration: hating traffic, hating leaving money on the table.
- 2
Check that enough people have it
Ask 'who has this problem?' If you're the only person on the planet with it, don't build a startup.
Watch out If only you have the problem, Levine says see a therapist — it's cheaper and faster than a startup.
- 3
Validate with strangers
Speak with people you don't know (aim for ~100, but ~20 strangers is enough) to test whether the problem is real. Real validation is when they say 'no, that's not the problem, the problem is...' and give their own description.
Pro tip If someone says 'I know someone with that problem,' it isn't a real problem for them — keep looking.
Watch out Don't rely on close friends and family; get out of your comfort zone.
- 4
Lead with the problem or the value, never the solution
Frame your story around the problem you solve or the value you create — not 'our company is' or 'our AI system is.'
Pro tip Starting a story with 'the value we create for you is...' focuses on the user, which is strongest.
Watch out Starting with a solution risks building something nobody cares about.
In the wild
Levine contrasts pitching 'an AI crowdsource-based navigation system' (listeners don't care) with 'I'm going to help you avoid traffic jams' (listeners care and want you to succeed).
→ Framing around the problem makes customers root for and help the company.
A company monitoring airfare price drops after booking started B2C, but consumers wouldn't take the required action; they pivoted to corporates where automatic rebooking is easy.
→ Saves corporates ~10% of travel budget straight to the bottom line — successful as B2B.
Common mistakes
Starting with the solution
Building first and hunting for a problem later often yields something nobody cares about — deeply frustrating and value-less.
Only validating with friends
Friends confirm rather than correct; you learn nothing about whether the problem is real.
Is it for you?
Best for
First-time founders at the idea stage trying to choose what to build.
Not ideal for
Pure invention plays where no prior problem exists (Levine cites the iPhone: 'there was no problem when they started').
From the transcript
“the simplest way to create value is solve a problem”
“if you happen to be the only person on the planet with this problem I can recommend you a therapist don't build a startup”
“go and speak with those people and understand their perception of the problem and only then start to build the solution”
From the episode
Lessons from a two-time unicorn builder, 50-time startup advisor, and 20-time company board member
Uri Levine (co-founder of Waze)